When the sun is high and the fields are browning, I always wish I had planned ahead for better water retention and irrigation. If any of you have a great system and are willing to offer your place for an off-season tour, please let me know so we can help other farms navigate available options in the coming years.
Check out our announcements below, including
- Ways to Get Involved in the Community
- Upcoming Event: Silvopasturing Tours
- Program Launch: Payments for Ecosystem Services
- Crop Notices: Allium Leafminer, Beech Leaf Disease and Wild Parsnip
- Calls for Farmer Participation
As always, reach out and let us know what you'd like to see from us here at CCETC!
~ The Ag and Food Systems Team at CCE Tompkins
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Get Involved in Your Community |
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Join the Ag and Farmland Protection Board |
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The Tompkins AFPB is recruiting new members from the community.
AFPB is a board made up of farmers and agribusiness owners throughout the county along with representatives from Soil and Water, County Assessment Office, and the County Legislature. It meets monthly in the off season to work towards the following mission:
- Encourage farming in Tompkins County through local initiatives which create favorable conditions that allow farmers to operate economically viable enterprises;
- Advise the Tompkins County Legislature on establishing, modifying, continuing, or terminating agricultural districts;
- Review Notice of Intent filings pursuant to Agriculture and Markets Law 25AA Sections 305.4 and 305-a;
- Support, implement, and update the goals of the Tompkins County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan; and
- Advise and recommend concerning Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (Purchase of Development Rights) applications to funding agencies
The Tompkins AFPB receives administrative support from Graham Savio and Baz Perry. Please email Baz with your interest at ebs20@cornell.edu.
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Dryden Farmers Market Seeks Vendors |
Dryden Farmers Market is looking for vendors to sell eggs and produce.
It is held every Saturday from 9-1 June - September at Dryden Agway, 59 W Main St, Dryden, NY.
Vendors do not need to commit to being there every week and there is no fee.
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Host School Tours or Weekend Open Houses this Fall |
October is Farm to School Month. The Tompkins Farm to School program would like to celebrate by offering a full calendar of farm tours to area school districts alongside other programming.
Most of our area kids have never stepped foot on a farm. Show them the beauty of living in tune with the seasons and working with the plants and animals on your farm to get kids excited about learning where their food comes from and exploring a career in agriculture.
Modest compensation will be available for your time.
Contact Tara Morgan, Farm to School Education Coordinator, to get on the schedule for potential visits. Let her know how many visitors you can handle and good days for you in October. Email tcm95@cornell.edu.
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Read and weigh in on our new Food System Plan |
Read the draft plan by clicking on the image. To submit your comments, email Katie or use the website comment feature here.
For more information and upcoming events, visit www.tompkinsfoodfuture.org or contact Katie Hallas, Community Food System Plan Coordinator, at (607) 272-2292 ext. 281 or kh788@cornell.edu.
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Congratulations to the Farm to Fork Awardees! |
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2022 Silvopasture Showcase Tour
In New York’s Southern Finger Lakes Region
Thursday and Friday September 15 & 16, 2022
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Join us for this not-to-be missed opportunity to see successful silvopasturing in action and network with fellow practitioners and supporters. We will visit several farms over the course of two days to share how silvopasturing is being utilized on a diversity of grazing operations in New York’s Southern Finger Lakes Region.
To help us plan for this unique tour, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of the early registration discount of $69 by registering here:
by Monday, August 15th.
Registration after that date will cost $89 and registration will close Friday September 9th at noon, or sooner if tour capacity is reached. Thanks to the generous support of the Edwards Mother Earth Foundation and other sponsors, a limited number of discounted registrations are available. See details in the link below for more information on how to apply.
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Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Program |
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CCE Tompkins, in collaboration with community stakeholders and organizations, is working to develop a Finger Lakes Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program. This program would financially reward farmers who provide quantifiable environmental benefits such as carbon sequestration in healthy soils and aboveground woody biomass, in-field water holding capacity to mitigate flood risk, and nutrient runoff reductions to improve water quality. Six regional farmers are collaborating on the development of the program through a two-year pilot period that will inform the program design and advance farm scale measurements of environmental benefits. PES Educator, Jenna DeRario, joined the Agriculture and Horticulture Team in December and will coordinate the implementation of the pilot program.
In addition to her work with the local PES pilot program, Jenna will also be supporting farmers who are interested in engaging with existing markets for carbon and other ecosystem services. If you are interested in learning more about carbon markets and PES programs, please contact Jenna at jd965@cornell.edu.
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Allium Leafminer and Other Pests |
This insect is capable of decimating entire crops of garlic, onions, shallots, chives, leeks, and ornamental Allium. It has been spotted this spring in Tompkins with some gardeners loosing whole crops.
Cultural control revolves around knowing when the adults are flying and preventing them from laying eggs in the leaves. Covering fall plantings during the 2nd generation flight can be effective so make a plan to have alliums protected in a few months time.
Here are some useful websites:
https://extension.psu.edu/time-to-prepare-for-protecting-allium-crops-from-allium-leafminer
All growers are encouraged to review suggested protections for all their crops at the Cornell Vegetable Program site: https://cvp.cce.cornell.edu/pests.php.
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced that Beech Leaf Disease (BLD), which affects all species of beech trees, was identified in 35 counties in New York State to date, including Tompkins and Cortland Counties. The main symptom to look for on beech foliage is darkened striping between the veins, which is best seen when looking up through the canopy. Leaves with severe symptoms can be heavily banded and crinkled, with a thickened leathery texture.
DEC is asking the public to submit reports through NYimapInvasives if they encounter a beech tree showing signs of BLD.
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Protect Your Skin from Wild Parsnip |
Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L.) is spreading rapidly in our area.
Wild parsnips produce a sap, or plant juice, that can cause burns to the skin in the presence of sunlight. In some cases, the burns can cause painful rashes and raised blisters.
If you need to work with or near the plant:
- Wear clothing that covers your arms and legs.
- Wash clothes that come in contact with the sap.
- Work with the plant on cloudy days.
If you get sap on your skin:
- Wash your skin thoroughly with soap and water as soon as possible.
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Protect your exposed skin from sunlight for at least 48 hours.
- If you experience a skin reaction, call your health care provider.
Please help keep your areas clear of wild parsnip to stop it spreading to neighboring areas. Thank you!
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Calls for Farmer Participation |
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Text-based Record-keeping Pilot Seeks Farm Collaborators |
A student from Upstate NY at Cornell University with a farming background has made a prototype allowing you to text information from your phone straight to an excel file, saving you time on constantly writing down and typing up information!
The information can be about production, sales, tracking labor - you name it. The way you text the information will be fully customized to how it would be best for you, and will save you hours per week on your record keeping and team management tasks.
He is looking for interested farmers (any crop type) who would want to try it out. If this sounds interesting to you, please email sa748@cornell.edu or text +1 (315) 741-2495.
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Help Local Startup Seeking to Reduce Food Loss on Farms |
Wisely is looking for interview opportunities to discover challenges farmers face when it comes to food waste, food storage, and food tracking. We are interested in talking with farmers who store crops, such as apples, for longer than a few weeks. We are looking to visit farms/businesses that use various ways of storage including CA systems, barns, warehouses, etc. Our goal is to understand your biggest challenge in storage that leads to food waste or loss of crops.
Our company is currently participating in an accelerator through REV: Ithaca Start Up Works to create a product that useful and helpful to farmers, warehouses, distributors, and those who need a solution to food waste/food loss.
The interviews and site visits will be conducted during the summer from now to August 3rd throughout upstate New York.
If you are interested in chatting with us, please reach me through the phone number or email below.
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Grant Listings for Farmers |
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Join the Farmer 2 Farmer Discussion Group - Ithaca Area on facebook
BuyLocalNY.org: List your farm so that consumers can find you!
Cornell Small Farms Program: Find Classes and Support to Build New Ventures
Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development (HR and labor laws)
FarmNet: Coaching, Business Planning, Farm Succession Planning, Referrals to Resources and more!
CCE South Central Dairy and Field Crops Team
Cornell Livestock Team
Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE)
NY Farm Bureau
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA)
NYSERDA Agriculture Energy Audit Program FREE
New York Farm Land Finder - Find or Post Farm Land
USDA Farmer Resources
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